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Just ordered some goodies :)

Hey guys I Just ordered some things for my slash xl-5. I have been in and out of this hobby like you wouldnt believe for the past 8 years. I always end up losing interest and selling most of my stuff and starting back up again. But my g/f bought me a new slash and I just ordered from hobbypartz the Leopard 3300kv brushless kit.. now I know theres mixed reviews some say its good and some say its junk but for 60 dollars im willing to try it. I have had 2 rustler vxls one I only used with nimh batteries and the next one I eventually bought lipos from ebay and wow it was the fastest electric I ever drove. But here I am right now with a bone stock slash xl5 and I want the brushless and lipo power so along with the leopard kit I bought a lipo charger and a blue lipo its a 3s 20c 4000mah I believe. It was only 23 dollars and most of the other selection on hobby partz is sold out. Im hoping the Leopard kit can last me a bit until Im willing to dump the money into another vxl system. Do any of you have good/bad experinces with the leopard kits running on lipos? And what would some suggested upgrades be to increase the durability? I hate it when me and friends are all bashing and then one little part breaks and your done for the day

I would suggest getting rpm a arms, rpm bearing carriers front and rear, and some aluminum caster blocks. If you run in dirt you might want to look at the rpm gear cover. It's not expensive and it saves your spur gears

I will probably get alot of rpm brand parts in a few weeks. I got the leopard kit yesterday and ran it this morning with the stock gearing and wow the power difference is amazing. and thats running with the same traxxas battery I used in the xl5. Its kind of cold and damp out here so I drove it on the road till it hit a pothole and I saw water splash so I figured I better stop and dry it out since the leopard kit isnt water proof. the only complaint i have is the short reciever wire. Its the 3300kv combo does anyone know of a good gear ratio for it. Right now it has alot of power over the xl5 and still a hair more top speed. i would like to get a little more top speed because it still prob wont affect the power very much it has more than enough now. I can just imagine when my 3s lipo comes! I may be looking for a different set of wheels and tires soon, I like the look of 1/8 buggy wheels/tires on the slash but is it worth the price of adapters and the the wheels? Do they handle as good as the stock wheels?

I would suggest getting rpm a arms, rpm bearing carriers front and rear, and some aluminum caster blocks. If you run in dirt you might want to look at the rpm gear cover. It's not expensive and it saves your spur gears

So my lipo charger and 3s 4000mah battery came in the mail on saturday and llike an Idiot when I was soldering a traxxas plug on I accidently shorted it for a split second. My voltage reader shows nothing and both my chargers say no battery. Did I fry this battery? only the wire got hot I dont think the battery did and it didnt swell up. Im really bummed i didnt even get to use it this weekend I was back to my 2 nimh batteries haha

If it was shorted really briefly, it should not be damaged.. and even if the cells were damaged, they'd still show a voltage. It's basically impossible to discharge a lipo within a second.
Where did you measure? On the balancing wires or the main power wires? What may have happened is that one of the wires unsoldered itself from the battery cause it got hot. Then you'd have to remove the shrink wrap and resolder it before shrinkwrapping it again.

I tried all the balance wires and the main power wires and they all showed nothing. but tonight or tomorrow after work I may cut the shrink rap off and see if your right about it unsoldering itself. I really hope that is all so that I can fix it instead of have wasting the money. I highly doubt hobbypartz will exchange it because it was my mistake but I will wait to get a reply from them anyways lol

I would try a new traxxas connector. Mine was shorted out from day one so I brought it back to the hobby shop n they soldered a new one on.
It is also possible (but unlikely) that the wire itself was shorted w/o harming the cells.

Ok wow the 3s lipo and the leopard kit is just perfect lol it is very fast just spins the tires on pavement and tries to wheelie at the same time. The motor does get pretty hot is there a heatsink of fan out there that I could put on it? the esc hardly gets warm.. and also im going to be ready for tires very soon now with this kind of power lol